Aware

Dear Editor:

It was a wonderful Christmas, especially on Dec. 22, when Christine Funk and friends included lots of people in the lighting of three Christmas trees. This is the beginning of a new tradition. The joke about this is that our mayor turned on the lights. Anyone who knows about the Friends of Reservoir Hill knows that Christine and the mayor are on opposite sides in this development of the hill: My stomach turned when I picked this paper up with the first article regarding Wal-Mart and the previous paper with another article making it even harder to get the multitude backing the Friends of the Hill to speak their piece. It seems that the mayor and David Mitchem are responsible for this. And how about Mr. Mitchem — he applies for three jobs in other locations and was denied. That should have told us something. Instead, he continues to throw his weight around Pagosa.

And how about Kathy Lattin who is head of the town planning commission and also head of the town council. Isn’t that “conflict of interest?” We should be aware and thinking more about what is going on here.

Cindy Gustafson

Editor’s note: We should also be aware of reality concerning items about which we complain.

1. While many claim to know what the mayor thinks about the Reservoir Hill project, few have paid attention to his latest opinions on the matter. If asked, he will tell you he favors improvement of the festival site. The last public opinion the mayor expressed concerned his doubt that proponents could find financing for the overall project.

2. Ms. Lattin is a town councilor; she is not “the head” of the town council. Further, it is not uncommon to have elected officials sit on committees appointed by their council or board. Conflict of interest occurs when personal gain of some kind might follow a decision by a board. In that event, ethical board or council members recuse themselves from discussion and votes. Ms. Lattin has not faced that situation as a member of the town planning commission or the town council.